Once a month I hope to use my blog here at Only Hope Publications to highlight a new religion that is "up and coming" in the religious world and see if we can understand it and how it compares and contrasts to New Testament Christianity. This series is going to be called the "New and No-Worthy Series" and will hopefully be released the last week of each month (unless I see fit to do it earlier). We will be using various sources for these posts including, but not limited to, Wikipedia for it's ease of use and vast amounts of information on religions that may or may not have reached the point of being widely published.

Some Background: Name - The name "Eckankar" seems to be derived from another religion called Sikhism, which will be discussed later in our series. Given the definition from Eckankar itself, the name means "Co-Worker with God" Founder, Leaders & History - The religion of ECK, another name for Eckankar, began in Las Vegas, NV in 1965 with the founder being Paul Twitchell, who was born in Paducah, KY and was once a member of the Church of Scientology, being one of the first in the religion to reach the status of "clear." After the end of Twitchell's leadership the religion's base of operations was moved to Menlo Park, CA in 1975 by Darwin Gross, an ex-Mennonite, and then to its current location of Chanhassen, MN by its current leader Harold Klemp, also known as Wah Z to the followers of Eckankar. Throughout its time as an established religious ideal, Eckankar has faced a number of problems, not the biggest of which was the major legal dispute over misappropriated money which resulted in Klemp's attaining the statuses of Mahanta, a term meaning "the highest state of God Consciousness on Earth," and Living ECK Master, which means the spiritual leader of the religion.

Main Teachings/Beliefs: In this section, I'd like to simply quote from the Eckankar Wikipedia page:

One of the basic tenets is that Soul (the true self) can leave the body in full consciousness and travel freely in other planes of reality.

Certain mantras or chants are used to facilitate spiritual growth. One important spiritual exercise of Eckankar is the singing or chanting of "HU (a video of which can be seen here)".

Dreams are regarded as important teaching tools, and members often keep dream journals to facilitate study.

The aim and purpose of Eckankar has always been to take Soul by Its own path back to Its divine source.

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, which means "Way of the Eternal", is the holy scripture of Eckankar. The Shariyat, as ECKists call it, is a set of two books that tell of spiritual meaning and purpose as written by the Mahanta, the current head of Eckankar. Some of the key beliefs taught in the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad include Soul Travel, karma, reincarnation, love, Light and Sound, and many other spiritual topics. ECKists believe Sugmad is the endless source from which all forms were created, and that the ECK, the Sound Current, flows out of Sugmad and into lower dimensions.

Comparison to NT Christianity: With just this short introduction to the religion of Eckankar, one can realize that the comparison between it and true Christianity is somewhat limited. The one thing that we can point out is the definition of the word "Eckankar." It is true that the New Testament Christian is, in a sense, a co-worker of God in that he has the responsibility to go and to preach the Truth of the Gospel to the world (Mark 16:15-16) and that this means of evangelism is the way by which God converts the sinner and brings him to the knowledge of the Gospel, to which he then must obey (1 Corinthians 1:18-21, James 5:19-20, cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Sadly, that is the only likeness that can be found between the two religions and it is a stretch at best.

Contrast to NT Christianity: This is where the rubber meets the road, so to say, and the religions are jettisoned far apart from one another. The vast difference between ECK and the truth of New Testament Christianity, which was given by the Creator of the universe, can be seen through a quick evaluation of the above points of Eckankar's beliefs.

The Bible clearly teaches that the moment a soul leaves a person's body, that person's body is no longer alive and, as the saying goes, is just like Rover. (Luke 23:46)

These mantras, or chants, seem to be a way by which the person induces a state of relaxation maybe even resulting in hallucinations. Nevertheless, the Christian is commanded to sing songs of praise and education for the purpose of teaching (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16). How does the word "Hu" teach anyone anything?

While dreams were used in the past by God to portray His will and commands (cf. Genesis 37, Daniel 7), there is no reason to believe He still carries this out after the completion of the New Testament and the end of the miraculous (1 Corinthians 13:8-10, Ephesians 4:11-16).

The only way by which a person can find his way back to God is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:20, Acts 13:38-39).

The written Scriptures were given by God (2 Tim. 3:16-17) to the point that one does not need any additional information aside from the Bible for his way in life (2 Pet. 1:3).

Conclusion: While Eckankar, or ECK, is a fascinating study, it is not the way by which a man can be saved from his sins nor is it a philosophy of life that could be held while remaining a Christian. It is to be seen just as all other religions are to be seen, a creation of man for the gain of something other than spiritual and religious righteousness. It is upsetting that so many, some 50,000 people, have placed their souls in the hands of this religion.